Have Object-Oriented Languages Missed a Trick with Class Function and its Subclasses?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Allison, Lloyd
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Allison, Lloyd
author_facet Allison, Lloyd
contents Compared to functions in mathematics, functions in programming languages seem to be under classified. Functional programming languages based on the lambda calculus famously treat functions as first-class values. Object-oriented languages have adopted ``lambdas'', notably for call-back routines in event-based programming. Typically a programming language has functions, a function has a type, and some functions act on other functions and/or return functions but there is generally a lack of (i) ``class Function'' in the OO sense of the word class and particularly (ii) subclasses of Function for functions having specific properties. Some such classes are presented here and programmed in some popular programming languages as an experimental investigation into OO languages missing this opportunity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_00488
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Have Object-Oriented Languages Missed a Trick with Class Function and its Subclasses?
Allison, Lloyd
Programming Languages
D.3.3; D.2
Compared to functions in mathematics, functions in programming languages seem to be under classified. Functional programming languages based on the lambda calculus famously treat functions as first-class values. Object-oriented languages have adopted ``lambdas'', notably for call-back routines in event-based programming. Typically a programming language has functions, a function has a type, and some functions act on other functions and/or return functions but there is generally a lack of (i) ``class Function'' in the OO sense of the word class and particularly (ii) subclasses of Function for functions having specific properties. Some such classes are presented here and programmed in some popular programming languages as an experimental investigation into OO languages missing this opportunity.
title Have Object-Oriented Languages Missed a Trick with Class Function and its Subclasses?
topic Programming Languages
D.3.3; D.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00488